Canada’s Parks Posters

Canada is the world’s second-largest country. Yet it is sparsely populated; the majority of its land being dominated by forest, tundra and the Rocky Mountains—a scenic paradise.

So, to honour this country’s majesty I’m designing a collection of Canada’s Parks artwork to honour this country’s natural wonders. Oddly enough, this all started with a trip to the Mojave desert.

It was there that I saw, for the first time, screen-printed reproductions of the United States Work Projects Administration’s parks posters.

Between 1935 and ‘43 the US WPA’s Federal Art Project designed posters to stir the public’s imagination for education and travel to America’s great parks. In keeping with that idea, I’ve begun a personal project of creating posters inspired by Canada’s great parks.

Sleeping Giant Provincial Park

Ontario

Voted number one for a list of Seven Wonders of Canada, its dramatic steep cliffs are among the highest in Ontario (250 m).

Kluane National Park and Reserve

Bon Echo Provincial Park

Ontario

Bon Echo includes part of Mazinaw Lake, the second-deepest lake in Ontario. Mazinaw is home to the massive 100 m (330 ft) high Mazinaw Rock, an escarpment rising out of the water, adorned with over 260 native pictographs.

Mt. Assiniboine Provincial Park

British Columbia

This stunningly magnificent place of shimmering alpine lakes, glacier-clad mountains, sky-scraping peaks and sun-dappled alpine meadows honours the Assiniboine people. Meaning “Stone Boiler”, the Assiniboine people placed hot rocks into animal pouches or holes filled with water in order to cook food. Feast your eyes on this UNESCO Heritage site.

Mont-Tremblant Provincial Park

Athabasca Sand Dunes Provincial Park

Saskatchewan

The Athabasca Sand Dunes are the most northerly active sand dune formation on Earth. Estimated to be about 8,000 years old, the sand dunes are constantly shifted by winds, which push the dunes into the surrounding forest.

Dungeon Provincial Park

Five Islands Provincial Park

Nova Scotia

Rising majestically from the shores of the Bay of Fundy, Five Islands Provincial Park is one of Nova Scotia’s most beautiful outdoor destinations. The park features gigantic sea cliffs overlooking the world’s highest tides. Hike, collect fossils and relax on beautiful beaches.

Nopiming Provincial Park

Manitoba

Nopiming means “Entrance to the wilderness” in the Anishinabe language. You won’t be disappointed at your arrival to the park, as this phrase aptly describes what you can expect. Miles of Canadian Shield, hundreds of crystal clear lakes rimmed by granite rock and sheltered by ancient stands of black spruce, birch and poplar.

Garibaldi Provincial Park

British Columbia

Garibaldi consists of many steep, rugged mountains, many of them capped by glaciers. It includes Mount Garibaldi and other volcanoes in the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt. The park features many dense forests, as well as alpine meadows and many rocky alpine areas. The park reaches its highest peak at Wedge Mountain—2,891 metres (9,485 ft).

Pinery Provincial Park

Ontario

The Pinery is a beautiful park with a 10 km sand beach on the shores of the mighty Lake Huron. Hike through rare and fragile oak savanna and relax among gorgeous coastal sand dunes. National Geographic magazine ranks Pinery Provincial Park as one of the top ten locations in the world for the best sunsets.

La Mauricie National Park

Québec

The Laurentian Mountain range is one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world. It contains rocks deposited before the Cambrian Period, 540 million years ago and is part of the 1-1.7 billion-year-old Canadian Shield. Countless eons of glacial sculpting and erosion have whittled these peaks down to what they are today.

Tombstone Territorial Park

Yukon Territory

The Yukon›s Tombstone Territorial Park protects a unique wilderness of rugged peaks, permafrost landforms and abundant wildlife, all reflected in a rich First Nations culture. Due to the remoteness of this pristine wilderness, there is no cell service or pay phones.

Auyuittuq National Park

Nunavut

Located on Baffin Island, Auyuittuq is home to mountains named after the Norse Gods. Mount Thor features Earth’s highest vertical drop. Its sheer cliff face has a vertical drop of 1,250 metres (1.25 km, 4,101 ft).

Killbear Provincial Park

Cape Breton Highlands National Park

Nova Scotia

One of the world’s most scenic drives, the Cabot Trail passes through Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Steep cliffs and deep river canyons carve their way down to the Atlantic Ocean in this spectacular park.

Glacier National Park

British Columbia

Canada’s second oldest National Park, Glacier National Park boasts exceptional alpine scenery and deep valleys filled with ancient cedar rainforests. Meeting place of the east and west coast of Canada, Roger’s Pass in the midst of mountains popular for ski mountaineering, camping, hiking and mountain climbing ever since the region became accessible in 1886.

Jasper National Park

Alberta

Jasper is the largest National Park in the Canadian Rockies. The park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984, making it one of the most significant places on earth for its beauty and wonder.

Sandbanks Provincial Park

Ontario

Sandbanks Provincial Park is home to the world’s largest fresh water sand dune system. It’s an incredible place where you can swim in beautiful water and then climb beautiful sand dunes as high as 60 metres!

Gros Morne National Park

Yoho National Park

British Columbia

With 28 peaks that soar over 3,000 metres, Yoho National Park is aptly named from the Cree word meaning “Awe”. This UNESCO World Heritage site is the largest protected area in the Rockies, and one of the largest in the world.

Lake Louise

Alberta

Lake Louise is beautiful. It is a glacial lake within Banff National Park with emerald-coloured water that comes from rock flour carried into the lake by melt-water from the glaciers that overlook the lake. I’ve hiked here and climbed to the stunning, Agnes Lake. Moraine Lake is also nearby.

Torngat Mountains National Park

Labrador, Newfoundland

Torngat is named from the Inuktitut word Torngait, meaning “place of spirits,” and the area has been home to Inuit and their predecessors for thousands of years. The mountain peaks found here, along the border with Quebec, are the highest in mainland Canada east of the Rockies, and are dotted with remnant glaciers and hundreds of archaeological sites in the park, some dating back almost 7,000 years.

Wapusk National Park

Manitoba

Wapusk is Cree for “White Bear” and earns its name because this 11,475-square-kilometre (4,430 sq mi) park protects one of the world’s largest known polar bear maternity denning areas. Bordering on Hudson’s Bay, it includes a large part of the Hudson James Lowlands, a subarctic natural region where the soil beneath your feet is permanently frozen. The park protects a spectacular transition zone between boreal forest and tundra. If you visit Wapusk you will find yourself in one of Canada’s wildest and remote places.

Grasslands National Park

Saskatchewan

In the south of Saskatchewan, bordering the ‹big sky country’ of Montana lies the only national park in all of Canada to protect the mixed-grass prairie ecosystem along with some of North America›s most endangered species. This is one place in Canada where you can see the Buffalo roam and the Deer and the Antelope play. And if you’re an astronomy buff like myself, this vast open landscape holds above it some of the darkest skies in Canada.

Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area Reserve and Haida Heritage Site

British Columbia

There are only two ways to reach the wonders of Gwaii Haanas: by sea or by sky. No roads lead to the natural and cultural treasures of this remote part of the Haida homeland. Ninstints (Nan Sdins) or SGang Gwaay Llnaagay on Anthony Island, located in the southernmost part of Gwaii Haanas, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a National Historic Site of Canada in 1981. The remains of a Haida village on the eastern side of the island - SGang Gwaay Llnaagay - represent an outstanding example of a traditional Northwest Coast First Nations village site, complete with standing totem poles and the remains of cedar longhouses.

The Massasauga Provincial Park

Ontario

The Massasauga is unique. As every campsite is waterfront, the only way to access the park’s campsites is by canoe or kayak. From the hundreds of windswept islands and shoals to the expansive inland forests and lakes, the Park represents an area, which is provincially and nationally significant. It is second only to Algonquin Provincial Park (see below) in terms of the variety and importance of earth and life science features in its ecological region.

Fathom Five National Marine Park

Ontario

Flowerpot Island is an island in Georgian Bay, Ontario and is a part of Fathom Five National Marine Park — nearby to Bruce Peninsula National Park in Ontario, Canada. The name of the island comes from two rock pillars on its eastern shore, which look like flower pots. A third flowerpot once stood, but tumbled in 1903.

Moraine Lake

Alberta

Moraine Lake is a glacially-fed lake in Banff National Park, 14 kilometres outside the Village of Lake Louise, Alberta. It is situated in the Valley of the Ten Peaks, at an elevation of approximately 6,183 feet. The lake, being glacially fed, reflects a distinct shade of blue. The colour is due to the refraction of light off the rock flour deposited in the lake on a continual basis.

Algonquin Provincial Park

Ontario

Algonquin Provincial Park has always been an important place for me. Aside from many hair-raising stories I could tell you about my experiences there, Algonquin also provides me with a great deal of creative inspiration. The essence of Algonquin is in its vast interior of maple hills, rocky ridges, and thousands of lakes. The only true way to explore the interior of this park is by canoe. When planned well, the backcountry offers canoe routes which provide a very rugged and primitive camping experience. Most of my paintings are a direct result of backcountry canoe trips within the park.

Killarney Provincial Park

Ontario

This iconic 645 square kilometre wilderness landscape showcases the wild Georgian Bay Coast of pink granite; the La Cloche Mountains’ white quartzite ridges and over 50 exceptionally clear, sapphire lakes set among Jack Pine hills. The area has long captivated artists including The Group of Seven’s A.Y. Jackson, Franklin Carmichael and A.J. Casson, so much so, that they persuaded the Ontario government to make it a park. Pollution caused by the smelting activities associated with nickel mining between the 1940s and the 1970s, caused many of Killarney’s lakes to become acidified, resulting in the loss of fish species, algae and aquatic plant life in many of the lakes. With the area’s natural environment now on the mend, canoeing over lakes as blue as sapphire; swimming in waters as blue as topaz — all while being surrounded by white quartz mountains, is an experience like no other.